This invention deals with an improved meat product, wherein a slab of ground meat particles can be prepared so as to resemble a charcoal-broiled steak. The present invention is an improvement over a prior invention, which is the subject of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 847,674, filed Nov. 1, 1977, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,235,941, which is co-pending with the present application, and which is assigned to the assignee of this invention. The prior application is incorporated by reference herein.
The meat product described in the prior application comprises a slab of ground meat having a plurality of spaced-apart grooves extending transversely across one or both sides of the slab. When the slab is placed on a cooking surface, the lands defining the grooves are cooked more intensely, while the remainder of the slab receives less heat. Because the lands have been cooked longer, the finished meat product contains a series of parallel darkened strips, positioned where the lands originally were. This product therefore resembles a natural charcoal-broiled steak, which had been cooked over a charcoal fire while resting on a grid of supporting rods.
Because a meat product of the type described above is ideally suited for use as a convenience food, it is important that the user be able to cook the product quickly, and that the cooking be accomplished evenly over the entire length of the "steak". It is also important to prevent the loss of natural juices, which occurs because of the tendency of the meat product to curl while being cooked, allowing the juices to run off.
It is desired that a meat product of the type described resemble more closely an actual charcoal-broiled steak. This goal and others to be apparent from the following description are accomplished by the present invention.